Why is McCain up ahead in so much of the coverage?

[The Backlash Cometh]

Are they intentionally counting red precincts first?

[mwei924]

1. Less People/votes to count.

[msongs]

2. rural areas with lower populations report votes first - rural more likely mccain nt

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. Those are podunk counties that are very easy to count.

The more populated the county, the longer it takes to count.

[billyoc]

4. Rural areas always come in first.

[The Backlash Cometh]

8. PLEASE DUers. I need you all to be correct tonight.

[book_worm]

5. more rural counties first, but as Mike Murphy and Keith just said

Obama is running much better than Kerry in the rural counties. The fact that IN is "too close to call" is a triumph for Obama and dems.

[TTUBatfan2008]

6. Yes...

It's simple. McCain's strongholds are rural. Obama's are cities. It takes a hell of a lot longer to count votes in the cities than in Bumfuck, Kentucky with a population of 500 people.

[NYC Liberal]

7. Rural counties always come in first. nt

[Stand and Fight]

9. Rural areas report first because there are fewer votes to count. n/t

[olshak]

10. Remember...

...the first hour belongs to McCain... after that, it's all Obama, baby!

[muddrunner17]

11. Many of the high population precincts had 4+ hour waiting lines.

That means some polls in Virginia may not close for another couple of hours. I'm assuming that is true in some other places as well.

[tclambert]

13. Good point, muddrunner17. People in line get to vote even long after the official closing time.

Are there really 16 other muddrunners?

[tclambert]

12. But at 7:29 EST, Obama leads in FL

That sounds important.